Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-08-13
of good roads. The effort should not be
abandoned; straight roads have been de-
layed and not permanently defeated ~
the action Of the county commissioners
THE GREAT CATASTROPHE.

The wreck snd terrible loss Of life in
cident thereto, which occurred on the
Toledo, Peoria and Warsaw Railroad, as
reported in yesterdays GAZETTE, is one
Of the greatest c:lsmities that has hap
pened in railroad travel in America dur
ing the present century. The loss of life,
and the torture, the suffering and agony
of the wounded who were imprisoned in
various ways; crushed, dismembered,
torn, lacerste3 and subjected to the ap-
palling terrors of cremation by the tire
tend is enough to freeze ones blood to
contemplate. The cries of agony that
pierced the air or frsntically appealed for
help from those whose naked hands dig
ging up the parched earth as the only
weapon with which to resist the encroach-
ing flames must have been indeed heart
rending, and the long line of maDgled
bodies lying dead in CHASTITY succession
in the corndeld must have been q melan-
choly picture to contemplate. Ships have
gone down st sea where more human
lives were lost, but sitter the terror Of ap-
proaching disaster had been swept away
By death Itself, in mild snd speedy
manner, those who sank beneath the
wave were removed from suffering and
were at rest. The victims of the Inflated
train, however, were kept in torture, sus-
pense and actual suffering for hours and
hours before tardy death came to
their rescue and relief. II will mark
dreadful Chspter in railrosding. The
disaster to the Scottish train in going
down from the bridge Of Tay sinks into
the commonplace when compared to it.
1t was perfect tornado of fatalities long
to De remembered with horror and shud-
dering. Those human wolves who
visited the field of carnage to rob and
plumber the victims were not the least
hideous feature of the occasion. Ina
human nature can become so depraved
Is more matter CT sorrow than surprise.
The causes which led to the sacrifice of
human life are difficult to discover. The
railroads will, Of course, shift the blame
to some other shoulders save their own,
il possible. The rumors and theories
are varied and numerous. The bridge
may have been set on fire as is claimed;
if so, the railroads are bllmeless; 1t msy
have caught fire from the parched and
burning prairies; if so, the railroad,
knowing the condition Of the country,
was criminally negligent in not guarding
their bridges. Trains may have coIlided if
SO the fault lies with the railroad in
not furnishing competent employees, or it
may have been that in trying to make up
the lost time the train was running at s
furious rate OF speed, and this theory is
the most plausible. It is claimed that the
train was making nearly sixty miles an
hour and that when the heavy engines
struck the bridge they shattered it, caus-
ing it to give way. II this is the case the
| railroad is responsible for every drop Of
blood split and every pang suffered. a
thorough, impartial, fearless and exhaust
I've Investigation should be made and the
blame placed where 1t properly belongs.
Whoever is at fault should De made to pay
dearly for it.